Just-drinks LIWSF 2006 Diary - 5 May

Coming up at this year's London International Wine & Spirit Fair…

Brown-Forman (stand D60) will have Bob Blue, Bonterra's winemaker in attendance at the fair. Blue will be launching The McNab, a new wine made from 100% bio-dynamically grown grapes from the McNab Ranch, in Mendocino County, California. The wine will be launched on Tuesday and be available for tasting at the 'Return to Terroir' tasting on Wednesday at the Waterside Rooms.

Also available to taste, will be the rest of the 100% organic Bonterra range. Two blended Bonterra wines, Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz Carignane will be shown in their new closure, the BOB screwcap.

Fetzer Vineyards, from California, will again take the opportunity to show the new Flagship wine, Coro Mendocino 2002, following its preview at the California Annual Tasting earlier this year. All the other Fetzer ranges will be on tasting, and will be available to view for the first time in their new packaging.

The Five Rivers range, which comes from vineyards owned by B-F in the Central Coast, Paso Robles area will be showcased, as will wine from B-F's super-premium winery, Sonoma-Cutrer.

Away from California, the company will also have on show wine from Bolla, based in the Veneto region of Italy, and Durbanville Hills from South Africa. Wines from all three of Bolla's ranges will be featured, while a new Soave DOCG Classico Superiore named 'Le Maddalene' will also be on show. Durbanville Hills, meanwhile, made its debut with B-F at the fair last year following a new distribution agreement with Distell.

Great Western Wine (stand D12) is offering visitors to its stand the chance to win a trip to Australia to visit the Glaetzer winemakers.

One visitor and their guest will win an all expenses paid field trip, flying into Adelaide to spend three nights courtesy of the Glaetzer family in and around the Barossa Valley, before flying on to Sydney for two days sightseeing before returning to the UK.

"We've been running bespoke training programmes for our customers for several years and have always been encouraged by the level of debate at these events concerning premium Australian wines," said Joel Lauga, director of trade sales at Great Western Wine. "An in-depth field trip is something we've been considering for some time, and we anticipate a large number of entries from customers keen to gain a greater understanding of the diversity of Australia's wine regions."

Beam Wine Estates will be out in full force at this year's fair with Cockburn's and Harveys.

Miguel Côrte-Real, commercial and viticultural director, will be hosting Cockburn's (IVDP Port and Douro Wine Institute stand A10-A20) first ever vertical tasting of single quintas from eight vintages from the Quinta dos Canais vineyard, acquired by Cockburn's in 1989.

Meanwhile at Consejo Regulador de Jerez (stand P40.15), on the Spanish pavilion, visitors will be able to taste the newly-launched Harveys Fino. Produced by winemaker, Beltrán Domecq, Harveys Fino completes the current Harveys sherry range of amontillado, pale cream, cream and premium styles.

To appear in the just-drinks LIWSF 2006 diary, email details to editor@just-drinks.com.